What’s the best way to learn coding and software development? The answer is simple: whatever works best for you. Some technologists prefer face-to-face lessons, while others learn best by reading online documentation.
According to the latest edition of Stack Overflow’s Comprehensive Annual Developer Survey, around 59% of developers have learned to code from online resources such as blogs and videos, surpassing those who learned in school ( 53%), books and similar physical media (51%) and online courses (40%). Stack Overflow drew this data from nearly 83,000 responses:
At first glance, this data suggests that many developers are self-taught, carefully sorting through the different types of online media to find out what they need. However, when the answers are broken down by age, things change a bit. For example, a higher percentage of developers over 45 learned their skills through books and school; young developers (that is, those under 34) were much more likely to learn their coding skills from online resources and courses.
If you are just starting out, which programming languages ​​should you focus on learning? It’s a tough question, but it might be useful to focus on the more popular ones, such as Python and JavaScript, which offer plenty of employment opportunities. These general-purpose languages ​​open up opportunities in a number of industries and are often the gateway to work in more specialized sub-fields such as finance and artificial intelligence (AI). The following data is taken from Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings across the country:
No matter how you learned your skills, employers may ask you to demonstrate your mastery during the job interview, so make sure you’re up for a coding challenge (or two).
